In oil markets, Brent crude traded at around $54.50 a barrel on Wednesday, down 1.55 percent, while U.S. WTI was around $52.54 a barrel, down 1.43 percent.

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories rose by 2.3 million barrels to a total of 485.4 million barrels, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts expected stockpiles to fall for a fifth consecutive week, by 2.5 million barrels, according to a Reuters poll.